If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I’m not from around here. I grew up in Minnesota, not Texas, but I have lived here for 20 years.
When I first moved to the great state of Texas I discovered all sorts of things that are different from where I was raised. The Texas drawl and it’s colloquialisms: people “put things up” instead of “putting things away,” things are “over yonder” instead of “over there,” “y’all” instead of “you guys,” etc. (I really could go on when it comes to the language!) And, there are traditions and ways of doing things that are done in Texas that you just don’t see back home.
There is a particular fall tradition here in Texas that is a mystery to me and I recently stumbled across a blog post that finally gave me the back story I was looking for. I just had to share it with y’all (you see how I slipped that “y’all” in there?) because unless you’re a Texan, you may be as mystified as I was. It’s the story of the Homecoming Mum.
Homecoming mum via Etsy
Have you heard of the Homecoming mum? I hadn’t until I moved here. When people would talk about it I would give them a blank stare and look confused. They, in return, would give me a quizzical look as if I had lived on a different planet for my entire life until, thank God, one day I was rescued by Big Tex and brought here. To the land of Homecoming mums.
For those of you who are as baffled as I was, the Homecoming mum is a tradition that seems to have originated here and, according to the blog post I mentioned above, stayed here.
For the Homecoming dance, the boy gets a mum for his date — it’s like a corsage. But, because everything is bigger here in Texas, the tradition has grown in to something…well…uh…BIG!
Ginormous Homecoming mums via Yes to Texas blog
Are the girls wearing the mums or are the mums wearing them?
And, is it just me or is it hard to find a mum in the midst of the feathers, ribbons, bangles and stuffed animals? I am hearing the latest in mum-fashion is to add LED lights and audio. Yes, audio!
Every year at Homecoming time the craft stores are filled with mum-making supplies. My son is 12. I have a few years to learn how to make one of these suckers otherwise he’ll be forking out anywhere from $75-$300 for a ready-made mum for his date. Sometimes the “everything’s bigger in Texas” rule isn’t such a good thing.
I’m curious…have you heard of the Homecoming mum?
Wishing you a wonderful Saturday!
Of course! I was raised and lived in Fort Worth all of my 54 years. I graduated high school in 1978 and had large double mums every year of high school. One year it rained hard and my out fit was soaked, shoes were ruined and the accordion type streamers on my mum dragged about a mile behind me! Those were fun times! A little secret though…if you grew up here you had no idea the entire world didn’t wear mums for homecoming! I was as mystified as you were at the prospect it was exclusive to Texas!
Same way here: Born and raised in Fort Worth. Mums started out as just that though, a single real mum. C now they are simply ridiculously huge and expensive. They should be scaled down. I have read where there have even been girl fighting over whose mom was bigger & better. Terrible! Love the tradition but it’s A little crazy these days.
I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM and still reside here today. I had never heard of these until recently when I saw a picture on FB and thought it was very odd. TX definitely does everything bigger, but I don’t think bigger in this case is very attractive. I wonder, do the girls carry these things around all night? Funny how different places have such different traditions.
I think my mums are still hanging in my childhood closet. Mine weren’t as big as the ones those girls are wearing but the ribbons came all the way to m knees. It was a big deal, ya’ll.
I grew up in Indiana and we had homecoming mums…similar but not like the ones the girls have in the pic. Ours were real mum, the BIG variety and they had touches of our school colors with ribbons in our school colors with either a little football on them or a little basketball.
I was in school in the 50’s when a Homecoming mum was a mum – period. They were real, and our school colors were black & gold so I got a gold mum. After I graduated the trend of a letter(name of town) made of black pipe cleaner was attached in the center of the mum. A small bow came later! I think the first one I had probably cost $3.00. Ah, the good old days!! BTW I live in west Texas.
I was in high school in the 50’s in Iowa and we had the single large mum too. I had forgotten about that entirely until your post! Good memories!
Oh you will love doing the mums, Julie! We didn’t have them at either of my high schools in Ohio or Florida. Some of my friends who grew up in Texas told us about having the actual, real spider mums in theirs back in the 70s. Abby went to about 11 (or 12?) homecomings in HS and we became pros at making those things! I’ll give you lessons when you are ready. It’s actually a lot fun, but buy your supplies early, because the cool stuff sells out quick!! It’s a great tradition, and you will enjoy doing it with the kids and the other moms, and making memories along the way
I’ve never heard of these mums as I’m from Florida! Thank goodness! These are absolutely atrocious! In Florida our girls were lucky in that they just wore a normal size corsage and maybe, if they got lucky, a crown!
Hi Julie,
I had never heard of Homecoming mums. Living in Windsor Ontario Canada there is nothing like that at all.
I finished reading a “cozy” mystery book a week ago by Melissa Bourbon. It just so happened to have part of the story line about making homecoming mums. Then reading your post and seeing what the mums look like was neat.
It is a very interesting tradition. Wonder what these kids will think when they look back at pictures in 10 years.
If anyone likes cozy books , I think hers are very good.I like light fun mysteries…odd description I know but true!
I liked how she personalized a mum for Gracie with a specific charm. Good luck with your son’s in a few years.
Love your blog.
Lisa
I cannot believe I forgot to put the title of melissa bourbons book!
It is A Killing Notion, if anyone is interested.
Lisa
How funny… I love it!,,,
I have never heard of this crazy tradition but I’ll have to say it does sound fun!
The cheerleaders wore mums for the homecoming game when I was in high school and that’s the only mum tradition that I know of here in VA.
Well, being born and raised here, I’m very familiar with Homecoming mums.
My hubby, however, is from Montana and had never heard of such a thing. He saw some ready made mums at Michael’s the other day and thought the girls wore them in their hair?! Lol! We just had Homecoming here, and took the obligatory pics of our son and his friends and all the girls with their huge mums. 
Around here, the girls also buy the guys a “homecoming garter.” Which is basically a garter with lots of ribbons in the school colors, etc. that the guys wear on their upper arm. I can totally see how this looks quite amusing to someone not familiar with it! Lol!
I’m smiling at this one! I grew up here and graduated in 1981. We frequently had a mum from a boyfriend, a mum from parents, and sometimes girlfriends gave them to each other. It would pull our shirts down…how goofy is that? Back then they were real flowers and we bought them at the florist. My son is perplexed by them too because we didn’t do them in Oklahoma.